Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

I spent Easter weekend in Florida with my family, and one of my favorite things to do is cook and bake with my grandmother. Well, sometimes I contribute to the cooking and other times I sit on on a bar stool overlooking the kitchen having a drink and just chatting while everyone else does the work. By the time I arrived my grandmother had already prepared a lemon pie, brownies, carrot cake, and who knows how many other treats and snacks. Food always seem to just appear, and no one ever goes hungry in her house.

The final dessert we had to make is a family favorite, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies! You start by making red velvet cookies, which is really like a mix between a cookie and cake, they are super moist and really easy to make! Then you sandwich them between a delicious homemade, buttery, sugary frosting.

My grandmother is an avid baker and the best one I know (sorry mom), she's always in the kitchen whipping up something delicious for all of her kids and grand kids, constantly trying to please and fatten up everyone! I struggle sometimes trying to recreate her recipes because she's always adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that, never really measuring and just going off of her memory. Dishes never turn out as good as hers, but that's not surprising as she has set the bar high, and has a lifetime of experience, stories and love that she puts into her cooking!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

Recipe adapted from Duncan Hines

Makes: 15-20 cookies
Printable Version

Ingredients:

• 1 package Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 5 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl with wooden spoon until dough forms.
3. Use 1 inch cookie scoop to place dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are set. Cool on wire rack. 
5. To make frosting, whisk milk and flour together in a pot on stove top before turning on heat. Then, turn heat on medium-high and cook for 5 minutes until glue like texture forms, whisking constantly. Transfer to a bowl, cover with wax paper and let cool in fridge.
6. In a separate bowl combine sugar, butter and vanilla, cream with mixer until fluffy, at least 10 minutes.
7. Add cooled flour mixture and mix for another 20 minutes until fully combined, and frosting islight and fluffy.
8. Place a scoop of frosting in between 2 red velvet cookies and enjoy!